Wednesday, December 13, 2006

When my husband and I got our oldest daughter, she was close to three and a half and still wearing diapers. Potty training her took a whole two days. She was so ready for it, it came as a relief to her (no pun intended) to get rid of the diapers.

With our second daughter, we had to start from scratch. Lila was about 18 months or so when I introduced the potty chair. She was very receptive. I kept the potty chair in the living room and put underwear on her. When Lila needed to go, she'd see the potty chair was close and go right in it. She was trained by 2 years old. Sure, there were accidents and the night time training took longer, but she has always been pretty easy to deal with.

Violet is proving to be a little trickier. She is now two and half and not ready yet. My previous little tricks and rewards don't seem to have much of an impression on her. She can't be bribed with a sticker, a candy, or much else really. Oh, she has a full understanding of the concept. She'll strip naked, head to the bathroom, and climb on the toilet whenever she wants to. The key here is - whenever she wants to. She is still very much in control of this subject right now. And that's ok with me. I'm not really going to push her. It seems that forcing the issue just creates phobias and I don't want that.

My problem is that Violet has this little issue. She likes to pee in things that are not necessarily her potty chair. Like the lid to board game, or a plastic cup from the kitchen set. Or most recently this morning, her sister's velvet lined treasure box. She is always very proud of herself afterwards and brings the offended object to me. "Look Mama! I peed!" Maybe I've been too encouraging. "Good girl!" I'll tell her "But we don't pee in empty crayon boxes, only the potty."

Honestly, I don't know what to do. This morning when she brought me her sister's velvet lined treasure box she told me she had a present for me. Thankfully, I saw the box was leaking out the bottom before she could set it in my lap. "What is this present?" I asked her while I held it at arms length so it wouldn't leak on my pants. I was pretty sure it was juice or possibly a stray soda.

"I peed!" she jumped up and down and clapped.

She is so gross.

I did put her in a time out while I cleaned up the leaky mess from my floor. Maybe she'll get the message this time. Maybe not. Until then, I wouldn't leave your drinks or hats unattended in my house.